Reports are circulating that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is planning some parliamentary maneuvering designed to keep the white house from engaging in one of its favorite means to get unpopular and often unqualified appointments cleared...the so-called "recess appointment."  Dan Froomkin's Thursday blog in the WaPo White House Briefing reports:

Democratic leaders once again are considering holding the Senate in a series of pro forma sessions to stop President Bush from using the break to install any of his outstanding executive branch nominees.

"The move comes as speculation mounts that Bush will use the period to push through some controversial appointments while Senators are out of town for the two-week period. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) could all but block the president from doing so, however, if he opts to call the chamber into nonvoting sessions every three days -- thus doing away with an extended recess."

I've go a real concern that Reid's maneuvers may well not be sufficient to block the president unless he arranges to hold pro forma sessions every working day during the holiday and not every few days.

Besides the obvious, what do Rush Limbaugh and swiftboat financierianancer, Sam Fox, have in common?

Anyone?

Anyone?

Horshack?

HuffPo has learned that on Thursday, Sen. John Cornyn, R-TX, will put up a resolution criticizing MoveOn.org's "General Petraeus or Betray Us" ad.  So for over a week the Republicans have in some way or another kept this ad in the news.  It must have really gotten under their skin!  Good!

Since the ad came out it has been fun to see the Republican meltdown over this.  I made my first ever donation to  MoveOn.org the day the ad came out, and will do so again this week.

One can easily wonder why they didn’t get so exercised about the Swiftboat ads.  I mean weren’t those ads questioning and slandering a man and his service to his country?  Isn’t this the crux of their vaporous rants?

In the wake of the resignation of Karl Rove, most media post-mortems of the architect of the Bush presidency describe his legacy as one of ultimate failure.  That is, in the end Karl Rove fell short of his goal to secure a permanent Republican majority monopolizing all three branches of government for the next generation.  Instead, he leaves behind a Democratic Congress and an unpopular, enfeebled President Bush.

But those accounts fail to capture the enduring dark cloud that Karl Rove has cast over the American political landscape.  His grim legacy is certainly not about public policy (about which he cared little) or even about winning and losing (about which he cared a great deal).  No, the indelible mark of Karl Rove is the permanent transformation and debasement of American politics itself.

[Crossposted at Over the Line, Smokey!]

Those "bushiness" moguls (and their wives) who bought their way into ambassadorships with campaign contributions don't always make friends in foreign lands, either with the citizens or with the career diplomats who have to straighten out their snafus. One career diplomat who spoke out about the trend  got transferred to Iraq after writing:

When talking points arrive...from the White House or the Bureau of Public Diplomacy at the State Department, written by domestic political experts and sounding like they were prepared for a campaign speech, they don't merely fall on deaf ears, they tend to alienate their recipients. Instead of engaging the overseas public in order to explain our position and the reasons for it, they try to tell it what to think.
link

Ever since the dull thud of Don Imus crashing down from the high media heavens back to earth began to reverberate through the punditosphere - all the little trained monkeys whirling the crank on the Right-Wing Werlitzer have been quaking in their boots and coming unglued.

Since these guys apparently love the Bruckheimer, they needed to find a villain to paint all their troubles upon.  It wasn't long before they found a suitable scapegoat - thanks to the ever helpful Drudge - that patsy was of course...George Soros.

Just one small problem, all of their current troubles aren't Soros doing, but are simply their own damn fault!

(Crossposted on Truth 2 Power and Democratic Underground)

From The Forward:

Sam Fox, President Bush’s controversial recess appointment as ambassador to Belgium, is vowing to continue donating to political candidates during his time in Brussels ... the decision to remain involved in the 2008 campaign on any level could prove contentious for Fox, given the tradition that ambassadors leave politics at the water’s edge, and could further inflame the debate over his selection.

Congressional critic Norman Ornstein has written a great article about George Bush's recent recess appointments of three officials. Beyond pointing out why there is absolutely nothing legitimate about these appointments, he proposes a nice response that Congress can use that will be sure to test Bush's loyalty to these hacks.

Although it's easy to assume that the Bush administration is in deep trouble -- with "underboss" Dick Cheney literally skulking in the bushes and "consigliere" Alberto Gonzales sweating over his upcoming testimony before Congress -- the Bush family's enforcements keep moving forward. And, while Tony Soprano has only nine Sundays left, George W. Bush has 653 days left to dismantle federal regulation and oversight.

It's too bad Sam "Swift Boat" Fox's appointment as ambassador to Belgium has gotten most of the media attention because Bush's other "f-u" recess appointments portend far more serious dismantling of government oversight and regulation.

Bush's end-run around Congress also included Andrew Biggs, "committed to the dismantling of Social Security via privatization," as No. 2 at the Social Security Administration, and the anti-regulatory Susan Dudley as administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

Senator Dodd has not gotten much love over here in the Kos community (including in Kos' rankings), but I believe that he is a candidate who deserves a second look.  Dodd has a distinguished career and has recently led the way on progressive issues (far ahead of Obama, Biden, Clinton).

Bush, in another cowardly display, demonstrates, yet again, that political connections, not qualifications are the most important consideration for getting a position in his administration. Bush’s withdrawal of Sam Fox’s nomination minutes before he was to face the Senate and possibly more questions about his support for the disgraceful Swift Boat Veterans for Truth's despicable smear campaign, only to then turn around and announce that he plans to install Fox via a recess appointment, is the act of a coward. Let’s be clear, Fox’s nomination, withdrawal and recess appointment say more about Bush’s character than Fox’s.

In a diary a few weeks ago, I fretted that Bush would use the first available recess to appoint Susan Dudley to director of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the White House Office of Management and Budget.  I suggested an approach, apparently foolproof, to preventing Bush from taking this step.  

Well, Bush has done it.  Forget about Sam Fox.  We could send Britney Spears to Belgium for all the difference it would make.  (Note to self: Maybe we could send Britney Spears to be an ambassador.  Is the Luxembourg post open?)  Fox's appointment is a big "Nyah, nyah" to Democrats in general, and John Kerry in particular -- nothing more -- despite its apparent illegality.

Susan Dudley's appointment, though, has consequences.  

This one appears headed to the courts.

First of all, there's a question whether a recess appointment can be made with someone who doesn't even have a pending confirmation in the Senate. Sam Fox's nomination had been pulled from the Senate by Bush.

But that's not the only legal problem with the recess appointment:

To fight the Fox appointment, Democrats are questioning the Bush administration's plan to have Fox serve in a voluntary capacity -- receiving no pay for his duties as ambassador. This is an important legal technicality, as federal law prohibits "payment of services" for certain recess appointments. However, if the recess appointee in question agrees that he or she will take an unpaid position and not sue the government at a later date for compensation, then the appointment can go forward, at least as the White House sees it.

So as long as Fox -- a multi-millionaire -- agreed not to sue the Bush administration later for not paying him, the White House would be comfortable with giving him an unpaid, "voluntary service" recess appointment as ambassador to Belgium.

But here's the rub that makes Democrats view Bush's recess appointment of Fox as a major-league no-no: Federal law prohibits "voluntary service" in cases where the position in question has a fixed rate of pay, as an ambassadorship does. That's how the Government Accountability Office, an arm of the Democratic-controlled Congress, interprets the law [...]

"How to reconcile this clear conflict between the pay restriction, which says that Fox cannot be paid, with the voluntary services provision, which says that the State Department cannot accept voluntary services from Fox?" queried one senior Democratic aide who asked for anonymity to speak frankly about the matter.

"That is the $64,000 question," he added.

News item:

President Bush named Republican fundraiser Sam Fox as U.S. ambassador to Belgium on Wednesday, using a maneuver that allowed him to bypass Congress where Democrats had derailed Fox's nomination.

Bullshit!

Another day, another atrocity:

President Bush named Republican fundraiser Sam Fox as U.S. ambassador to Belgium on Wednesday, using a maneuver that allowed him to bypass Congress where Democrats had derailed Fox's nomination.

And the hits just keep on coming:

Well, well Mr Swiftboat Sam. You should have thought about the chances of a newly elected Democratic Congress having to confirm you before whipping out your wallet for the smearmongering SwiftBoat Liars in exchange for a nice fat ambassadorial cronie appointment. Serves you right.

The AP just posted something regarding White House plans to withdraw the nomination of businessman Sam Fox (to be Ambassador to Belgium), who drew fire for his contributions to the Swift-boaters.

Great news for anyone who thinks we should keep slime-balls like this out of our government.  Looks like the Democrats were able to head this one off.

For anyone who thinks there's no difference between the Democrats & the Rethugs, I think this is a clear example of how big a difference the November elections have already made in our society.

Bob Geiger has been on the case.  Remember Sam Fox?  Major Swift Boat donor.  He gave them $50,000 after it had been shown they were lying about John Kerry's record.

Well, he's up for a Senate Foreign Relations Committee vote this Wednesday on whether or not to bring his nomination to a full Senate vote.

Remember him?

Sam Fox, of St. Louis, was nominated by George W. Bush in January to be the new U.S. Ambassador to Belgium. It's not unusual in either party for a guy who pumps a lot of money into political campaigns to be rewarded with such a post -- and Fox is certainly a big-time Sugar Daddy for the GOP -- but this guy took that standard up a few notches by donating $50,000 to the Swift Boat Liars, who used fabrications and smears to help derail John Kerry's (D-MA) 2004 presidential campaign.

Now he's up for a vote, and it's not clear how everyone will vote as of yet.  Time to call our Senators and ask them to stop this guy from getting the nod.  Contact info after the fold.